A “robot”, as the term will be used herein, is an electro-mechanical machine that includes computer hardware and software that causes the robot to perform functions independently and without assistance from a user. An exemplary robot is a droid that can be configured to fly into particular locations without being manned by a pilot. Sensors on the droid can output data that can cause such droid to adjust its flight pattern to ensure that the droid reaches an intended destination.
While the droid is generally utilized in military applications, other consumer-level robots have relatively recently been introduced to the market. For example, a vacuum cleaner has been configured with sensors that allow such vacuum cleaner to operate independently and vacuum a particular area, and thereafter automatically return to a docking station. In yet another example, robot lawnmowers have been introduced, wherein an owner of such a robot lawnmower defines a boundary, and the robot lawnmower proceeds to cut grass in an automated fashion based upon the defined boundary.
The above exemplary robots are generally powered by batteries that reside on the robot. For robots equipped with non-rechargeable batteries, a user of the robot manually replaces the batteries once electric charge of the batteries has been dissipated. Many of the aforementioned robots, however, are equipped with at least one rechargeable battery, wherein the battery of a robot can be recharged by causing the robot to be docked in a docking station. Several approaches have been designed to cause a robot to autonomously return to a docking station responsive to detecting that charge of rechargeable batteries of the robot is below a threshold. These approaches, however, generally require relatively expensive hardware to be successful.